Lucky for us the sun is a wonderful source of clean energy. Its
rays can be harnessed and transformed into electricity using
semi-conductor-based solar cells that power homes, buildings, and
even transportation. Researchers have spent decades trying to
refine this process.

Recently, MIT researchers have made a
significant mark in this endeavor. Associate Professor Marc A.
Baldo, leader of the project, and a team of four graduate students
of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,
have constructed a cost-efficient solar concentrator device based
on a failed 1970s model that uses glass and dye. In practical
terms, the concentrator device is a high-efficiency window.

Currently, solar concentrators on the market track the sun’s
rays using large mobile mirrors that are both expensive to arrange
and to maintain. Furthermore, Baldo explains, the solar cells that
house these concentrators must be cooled, thus the entire assembly
wastes space.

Baldo’s new solar concentrator increases the amount of usable
energy by a factor of 40, all while cutting costs by reducing the
amount of solar cell, which because its base is silicon is rather
expensive.

The device consists of glass coated with a mixture of relatively
inexpensive dyes that absorbs the light and re-emits it on a new
wavelength into the glass to be collected by the solar cells, which
are located on the edges of the glass.

Baldo says the 1970s model failed in two ways: the collected
light was absorbed before it reached the edges of the glass and the
dyes were unstable.

Using optical techniques developed for lasers and other diodes,
the MIT engineers found the perfect ratio
of dyes that would allow the light that is absorbed and emitted to
travel a longer distance before reaching the solar cells.
(cont.)

The team has successfully combated previous obstacles and have
created a device that they believe is highly marketable. In fact,
three of the four researchers, Michael Currie, Jon Mapel, and
Shalom Goffri, have co-founded Covalent Star, a company that will
further commercialize the solar concentrator with hopes of
production within three years.

By discovering ways to use effective materials that are easy and
inexpensive to manufacture, Baldo and his team are making the
future of widespread solar-powered homes a closer reality. Pretty
soon average Americans who want to do their part for the
environment and save some money on electricity bills will have that
opportunity.

I’m excited about this too and am looking forward to seeing my future house fully-equipped with this technology. It would be nice to see this be the standard, rather than an “out there” mega environmentalist fantasy.